


lounging

by spacebubble



Category: Star Trek: Discovery
Genre: Deleted Scenes, Episode Related, Episode: s02e04 An Obol for Charon, Episode: s02e06 The Sounds of Thunder, Ficlet, Gen, Napping, Sleep Deprivation, Slice of Life, and some light humor re saru being an ex-damsel in distress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-11
Updated: 2019-03-11
Packaged: 2019-11-15 08:29:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 567
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18070028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacebubble/pseuds/spacebubble
Summary: Michael gets some sleep in Saru's quarters. It's been a tiring few days, more so than usual.(Mild spoilers for season 2 of Discovery, set sometime after Episode 4 and before Episode 7.)





	lounging

She's starting to get used to lounging in Saru's quarters.

His quarters are a botanical sanctuary in the ship, sweet-scented and tranquil, internal lighting carefully altered to resemble natural sunlight.

It's pleasant, reclining on his mossy bed while he putters around tending to his flowers and plants, chatting away about nothing and everything. 

Sometimes Michael falls asleep without planning to, drifting off regardless of her engagement with the conversation. She'll wake up to the sound of Saru stirring salt into his tea, spoon quietly tapping the edges of his mug as the granules dissolve. Or she'll stir awake after a gentle shake on the shoulder, disoriented for a moment before his voice grounds her back to reality.

The commentary varies. 

"You don't have to personally monitor me, Michael. I am not a damsel in distress."

(Said fondly, with just the faintest hint of incredulity. She arches her eyebrow at the mental image, brief and amusing, of Saru gazing out from the window of a tall tower, chin in hand, waiting for a rescuer to arrive.)

Or:

"Time to get up, Michael. Aren't you supposed to meet Tilly for dinner?"

(Saru keeps his quarters at a temperature that doesn't require a blanket, but he starts keeping one around, just for her. Sometimes she wakes up with it covering her while he dozes off in a nearby chair, padd in hand, dangling from his fingers.)

Or: 

"Michael, surely your own bed must be more comfortable? I don't believe humans are supposed to sleep on mossy rocks."

(As if he hadn't chosen the softest mosses for his own comfort, optimized for a peaceful rest.)

But he doesn't reject her company. 

Sometimes Michael thinks he's spoken with Sarek about how poorly she slept as a child, restless and anxious despite the care of her foster family, worse after the rift she imposed between herself and Spock, wracked with guilt over everything and everyone. A restlessness that continues to persist in her adulthood, despite her best efforts and most disciplined routines, returning with a vengeance after each new loss. 

It would be just like Saru to let her sleep as long as she wants, mindful of her difficulties finding rest otherwise. But if that's ever on his mind, he never tells her. 

Perhaps it's just his intuition. The older sibling instinct kicking in, an instinct she still possesses. When she's awake, she can't stop watching him, wondering if he's truly all right, or if something else is at work underneath the surface.

Sometimes they lean back on the moss and stare at the ceiling together, feet dangling off opposite sides of the bed, heads upside down next to one another. Saru and his sister would often watch the clouds roll by like this, on Kaminar's grassy knolls and pastoral hillsides, the sound of the sea off in the distance, each with a different view of the same thing. 

Occasionally Saru falls asleep before she does. Michael wonders what he dreams about. If the Ba'ul ever appear, like the Klingons do in her dreams. Now Saru can put a visual to the fear. Sometimes that makes it worse. 

But perhaps he doesn't dream of them at all.

He has yet to tell her. Michael opts not to ask. Better not to bring it up unbidden.

For now, she's content to simply rest by his side, just the two of them, safe and sound.


End file.
